A walk in the park
by cein
Summary: Flack likes having lunch in the park with Stella. Chapter 3
1. Understanding

Title: A walk in the park

Chapter: 1 - Understanding

Author: Ceindreadh

Fandom: CSI NY

Characters/Pairing: Flack/Stella

Rating: FRT/PG-15

Summary: Flack likes having lunch in the park with Stella

Notes: Part 1 of a WIP, but works as a standalone piece i.e. no cliffhanger.

Warnings: Spoilers for S4 ep 3 You only die once, S2 finale.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the CSI NY characters, I'm only borrowing them, and I promise to return them in minty fresh condition when I'm finished.

---------------------

Even though she was enjoying herself, sitting, eating hot dogs in the park with Flack, Stella couldn't help but keep glancing at her watch.

"You got some place else to be?" asked Don, a grin on his face as he bit deeply into his hotdog.

"Just some test results," said Stella. "I really should get back to the lab soon, see if anything's showing up."

Don put his hand over his heart with a mock wounded expression on his face. "Stood up for a machine that makes beeping noises, man that's a bruise to the ego!"

"Hey, I agreed to leave the lab and have lunch with you," retorted Stella. "I don't do that for just anybody." She smiled at him.

"I should hope not," Don leaned in a bit closer to Stella and lowered his voice, "Cause I like being the only guy who takes your mind off all that." He tried to kiss her on the cheek, but she pulled away.

"Don, there's people around," said Stella, sliding just a little further away on the bench.

Don hung his head for a few seconds, sighing, before raising it and looking at Stella. "It's just a kiss, Stel. Two adults, having a hot dog and a kiss in the park. Not like I'm ripping your clothes off and doing you here on the bench!" He paused for a few seconds before adding, "Course I'm not saying I don't want to, but it's a bit chilly this time of year."

"That's not the point. Do you know how many cops pass through this park each day? On or off duty, somebody we know could see us."

"So?" Don shrugged, "Big deal. So somebody sees us. What they gonna do? Hell, they'll just be so jealous that it's me sitting here kissing you and not them." Her insistence on secrecy was one of the few things that annoyed Don about Stella. On one level he could understand it. Her last relationship had become fodder for gossip inside the Precinct and the Lab. Hardly surprising since she'd gone and shot the bastard and ended up as a case file herself for a bit. But it bugged him sometimes, having to pretend that him and Stella weren't a couple. "And if they tell on youze to Mac, well so what. It's not like you're my supervisor or nothin."

"You know how Mac feels about the security of the lab. If he thought we were compromising it by being involved…"

"Well we're not. You do your job, I do mine, and what we do on our own time is nobody's business. Besides," Don crammed the last remnants of the hot dog into his mouth and chewed noisily before swallowing it, "…'sides, it's just like when he was hooked up with Peyton. Didn't see him fretting over compromising the lab's integrity then!"

"That's different," said Stella, frowning. "He's the boss."

"So? Don't give him the right to come down on you for having a personal life." Don saw the look on Stella's face and sighed inwardly. "Okay, okay, I promise I'm not gonna kiss you where anybody could see us, not until youze are ready to go public. Okay?"

"Okay," said Stella.

Don leaned in and said, "Of course, when youze and me are alone at my place and the curtains are closed, I fully intend to kiss you everywhere!" He lowered his voice and whispered in her ear just exactly what else he was planning to do to her, and was rewarded with a light blush that appeared on her cheeks.

"Don Flack!" said Stella, equally amused and embarrassed by what he was saying her. Glancing at her watch, she cursed involuntarily, knowing that the brief time she had allotted herself for lunch was coming to an end. "We should go," she said reluctantly, half pulling away and gathering up the wrappings from their lunch.

"One of these days I'm gonna make you take a proper lunch break," grumbled Don good-naturedly. "Give you time to digest it properly."

Stella patted him on the hand, "One of these days we'll finally catch up with our caseload and I'll have time for proper breaks."

Don caught her hand in his, "One of these days you'll tell Mac that you and me been seeing each other so we don't have to keep misleading him. I mean, I get that you don't want nobody gossiping about us, but Mac's as tight lipped as a Priest taking confessions."

"I know," acknowledged Stella. She took a deep breath before replying, "And I will tell him about us…just not today…it's not the right time." She stood up and looked at her watch again.

"Okay," said Don, a smile on his face. He knew that Stella was a woman of her word. She'd said she was going to tell Mac, that meant she would. It wasn't that it was specifically any of Mac's business, but Don just felt bad about being less than honest with him. Not that he out and out lied or nothing, but lying by omission was still technically lying, at least according to his parish Priest when he was growing up. Of course having sexual relations with a woman outside of marriage was a total sin as well, but Don had no intention of giving up that sin, no way. Leastways not when there was a woman like Stella in the picture.

She was so different from any of the women Don had previously hooked up with. Her and his previous girlfriend, were like chalk and cheese. Don's face clouded as he thought about Devon. It had started off so well with them. He'd been the 'man of the match' at a charity hockey game. She had been presenting the award – courtesy of a sizeable donation from her father. They'd hooked up afterwards and only a badly timed robbery had interrupted their 'very important' third date. He should have known from her reaction to the incident that she and he moved in totally different worlds. Chicks from Don's world didn't get turned on by the thought of their home being violated, and Don knew he should have gone with his instincts and backed off. But he'd been thinking with the wrong part of his body and he'd gone back for a fourth date to pick up where they'd left off. And things had been going great, clothing was flying everywhere, they were sprawled on the bed and then boom…Devon's hand had brushed against the scar on his belly and it'd been like bucket a water had been chucked on her.

Oh she'd tried to cover it up, tried not to flinch as her hands brushed against the rough patches of skin. They'd gotten down to business and she'd even seemed to be enjoying it, but every now and then she'd seem to pull away a bit, shifting position just enough so as to avoid making contact with the once damaged flesh. Don had been too caught up in the moment to realize exactly what she was doing until afterwards.

The next morning Devon had brought up the subject of plastic surgery, telling him she knew of a wonderful Doctor who could practically work miracles with scars and blemishes. That had been the last time Don had seen her. It hadn't been the way she'd offered to pay for it that had been the issue, he'd known from the start that she was loaded and what she did with her cash was her own business. No, it had been the way that she'd felt that any sort of physical flaw or imperfection had to be erased.

Don wasn't self conscious about his scars…not now anyway…they were part of who he was. He'd earned them in the line of duty, paid for them with his blood, and while there's times he wished he'd never gone through the whole ordeal, times he wished he could blot out the memories of the pain and the fear, he knows that they're a part of him, part of what's made him who he is today. The scars are a visible reminder to him and to just wipe them away as if it had never happened feels to him like a betrayal of all he's been through.

"Penny for your thoughts," said Stella as Don stood up from the bench.

He smiles at her, knowing that she's never recoiled in horror from the scars. True, she'd seen them in bloody detail in the photos from his case file, long before she ever got to see them in the flesh so to speak. But Don knows Stella, he knows she's no Devon, and he knows that she understands him, understands why his scars are a part of him. He knows that she's carrying her own scars, although most of hers are on the inside, but they're a part of her and he understands them and he understands her, and she understands him. And he knows that sooner or later she'll understand that there's no reason for them to hide themselves from the world, but he can live with the waiting because he knows that they're not hiding from each other.

"Penny for your thoughts," said Stella.

"I was thinking of you."

--------------------------

Ceindreadh


	2. Trusting

Title: A walk in the park 02  
Chapter: 2 - Trusting  
Author: Ceindreadh  
Fandom: CSI NY  
Characters/Pairing: Flack/Stella  
Rating: FRT  
Summary: Flack likes having lunch in the park with Stella  
Warnings: Spoilers for S4 ep 3 You only die once, S2.  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the CSI NY characters, I'm only borrowing them, and I promise to return them in minty fresh condition when I'm finished.

Previously on CSI NY: Flack and Stella had lunch in the park. Stella promised that some day soon she would tell Mac that they were a couple.

---------------------

"Penny for your thoughts," said Stella.

"I was thinking of you."

--------------------------

Part 02

-------------------------

Don was still thinking of Stella as they walked through the park. An idea came into his head and when they came to a fork in the path, he took the left hand route, carefully stepping around the 'no access' warning sign.

"Don," said Stella, stopped by the junction. "We can't get out that way."

"Yes we can," said Don, a smile playing around his lips. "It's a bit longer…but it's a better route, and we've got time." He saw Stella almost involuntarily glance at her watch, "Come on Stel, something big goes down in the lab, they'll page you, right?"

It briefly occurred to Stella that maybe Don was up to something. He had that gleam in his eye that usually spelled fun…or trouble. But she had to admit he was right. The tests she was running weren't likely to throw up results for another hour or more, and if she was needed, well her pager and cell phone were fully charged. "Okay," she said finally, and followed him down the path.

------------------------

"I thought you said this was a better route," said Stella, a note of mild annoyance in her tone as she skirted a branch that had fallen across the path. "No wonder this was closed off. Are you sure we'll be able to get through? If we have to retrace our steps…" She stopped to look back the way they'd come.

"Stella, Stella, Stella," said Don, stopping as well. "We'll be fine. Only reason Park Services put up those signs is cause they haven't cleared up after the last storm and they didn't want nobody suing them for tripping over something. The path's still passable."

"And that makes it better how?"

"Cause there's nobody else using it…no prying eyes…nobody gonna go telling tales out a class…nobody to see…"

"See what?" But from the grin on Don's face, Stella had a pretty good idea what he was thinking. The only question was, would she go along with it or not?

--------------------------

Stella could feel the bark of the tree scratching her through her jacket. Don's lips were on hers, one of his hands at her waist keeping her firmly in place. He'd certainly made a good argument in favor of this, she thought, even as she took his head in her hands, moving it to just the perfect angle.

"Look Stel," Don had said. "We can either stand here for the next ten minutes with me trying to convince you, or we just go for it. Come on, there's nobody around. Anybody does show up, well they're not supposed to be here either, so they're not gonna hang around. All I want to do is make out with my girl for a bit, put a smile on her face and mine before we gotta go back to work. We're not gonna go frighten the horses or anything heavy like."

He'd been looking at her with those beautiful blue eyes of his, the ones that made it practically impossible to say no to him. Not that Stella had really wanted to say no. She hadn't wanted to say no to him earlier at the park bench, but she knew how cops gossiped, and the last thing she wanted was for her private life to be a topic of conversation among her co-workers. Not that she was embarrassed about being with Don, but it was nobody's business but her own who she was seeing.

And then there was Mac. He was her boss, but she considered him a friend, a confidant, and while he would certainly understand and respect her desire for privacy, Stella still felt bad that she had essentially been lying to him for the past few months. Originally she had justified it to herself, thinking that there was no reason to mention what was as she had thought, a one off event. She'd shared meals with Don on more than one occasion after they'd worked late on a case, even sleeping on his couch one night when it was too late to get a subway home. And then one night they'd cracked a bottle of wine to celebrate closing a case, and Stella had spent the night in Don's bed.

She'd thought it was just going to be a once off event. Two colleagues, two friends, who'd been through a lot together and just wanted to let off a bit of steam with somebody they could trust. But the next night she'd gone back for more and almost without realizing it they'd become part of a couple.

It was good, thought Stella as she felt Don's lips part from hers before sliding down her neck as he nuzzled at that wonderfully sensitive point just above her collarbone. It was good to be with somebody she trusted so implicitly. She knew she'd made mistakes, plenty of them, in her personal life. She'd had a more than one relationship that had started out full of hope and optimism, only to fail and turn to ashes. While Frankie had been the only one to try to kill her, he was far from the only one to prove untrustworthy.

Don was different in so many ways from all those others. He'd proven his integrity and decency in any number of ways, long before they'd crossed the line from friends to lovers. Not that their relationship was always hearts and flowers. Two such strong willed and stubborn individuals couldn't be involved for so long without locking horns occasionally. But no matter how vocally they might disagree, Stella knew that Don would never lay a hand on her in anger. She knew that while he might disagree with and challenge her and argue his case as strongly as a prosecutor, he would always step up and admit it if he turned out to be in the wrong. Stella never felt afraid when she was with him.

For all those reasons and many more, Stella hadn't resisted too much when Don had taken her hand and pulled her towards the clump of trees. "Just be careful," she had warned him. "I don't want to go back to the lab looking like something the cat dragged in!"

"How about looking like something the Flack dragged in," Don had teased her, but he was being careful, just like she'd known he would be. The row of kisses he was tracing along her neck were hard enough to almost make her knees buckle, but not so hard that she'd need to find a scarf to hide them before she returned to work. No, she didn't need to worry that Don would ever hurt her…and she didn't need to worry about telling Mac. "It's time he knew," thought Stella, promising herself that she would tell him at the earliest possible opportunity. With that decision made, she focused her attentions firmly on Don, feeling her knees tremble as he hit just the right spots on her body.

Stella's head tilted back and she sighed happily, and then her eyes opened wide and she froze.

Don could tell immediately that something was wrong. "Stella?" he hissed softly. "What is it…is somebody coming?"

"No," said Stella, pushing Don away from her slightly. "Somebody's already here…"

Don frowned, and then followed her gaze as she looked back up into the branches above them. "Aw crap," he said, as he saw the body.

----------------------

To be continued

Ceindreadh


	3. Telling

Title: A walk in the park 03

Chapter: 3 - Telling

Author: Ceindreadh

Fandom: CSI NY

Characters/Pairing: Flack/Stella

Rating: FRT/PG-15

Summary: Flack likes having lunch in the park with Stella

Notes:

Warnings: Spoilers for S4 ep 3 You only die once, S2.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the CSI NY characters, I'm only borrowing them, and I promise to return them in minty fresh condition when I'm finished.

Previously on CSI NY: Flack and Stella had lunch in the park. Stella promised that some day soon she would tell Mac that they were a couple. On their way back through the park they stopped to make out for a bit, only to discover a body in a tree.

---------------------

Don could tell immediately that something was wrong. "Stella?" he hissed softly. "What is it…is somebody coming?"

"No," said Stella, pushing Don away from her slightly. "Somebody's already here…"

Don frowned, and then followed her gaze as she looked back up into the branches above them. "Aw crap," he said, as he saw the body.

----------------------

Part 03

Stella put her phone back in her bag as she walked back over to Don. "There'll be a team here in about ten minutes."

Don nodded, "Yeah, I'm getting a perimeter set up around the area. There'll be officers at each access point into the park. Nobody gets out without being id'd. Course I don't think it'll do much good. Peeping tom up there looks like he's been dead for a bit."

"He could have been killed somewhere else and only dumped here today," said Stella, "But that'll be for somebody else to determine."

Don looked at her, a slight frown on his face as she continued.

"First people to find the body. Technically we're suspects until we're cleared," Stella put a finger to Don's lips to stop his protests. "Procedure Don, I know it sucks, but it's there for a reason." She stood beside him, linking her arm with his and resting her head on his shoulder, "But I suppose there is one thing that'll make you happy."

"What, an afternoon filling out reports on a case we're not even gonna be handling?"

"No," said Stella, "But I'm going to have to tell Mac at least what we were doing before we found the body, which means I'll have to tell him about us."

A delighted expression flashed across Don's face, followed quickly by one of guilt, "Ah Stel, I'm sorry, I know you like your privacy and everything. Shit, this is all my fault for dragging you round here in the first place."

Stella squeezed his hand, leaning in closer against him. "If we hadn't come by here, John Doe could have been here till fall. And besides…just before I noticed him…I'd already planned on telling Mac about us as soon as possible…I just didn't think it'd be under these exact circumstances!"

Don's face brightened, before he said in a mock annoyed tone, "Wait a minute, youze was thinking of Mac while you were kissing me?"

"I won't be thinking of him the next time we're kissing," said Stella, "And that's a promise!"

"I'll hold you to it."

------------------------

"Lindsey, take the tree. Hawkes, the body," ordered Mac, setting up the field kit in a clear area of the scene. He was checking the settings on his camera when Stella approached him.

"Mac, I need a word with you," said Stella. Although not usually an anxious person, she could feel her heart rate quicken. It's only Mac, she told herself sternly. He won't judge, he won't gossip, you can trust him implicitly. So why didn't you trust him before this, another part of her brain asked. She pushed that thought aside and tried to focus on the matter at hand.

"Have you made your statement to Detective Angell?" asked Mac. He hung the camera around his neck and reached back into his kit for a set of gloves.

"Flack's speaking to her now. Mac, there's something I need to…"

"Hey Stella," said Lindsey, "I see you've been scouting out new business for us." She turned to Mac and said, "There's definite trace on the bark of the tree, and footprints around the base. Could be from whoever put the body up there. I'll see if I can get a good cast." She took the casting box from the field kit and headed back to her task.

"She'll need to take a sample from my jacket for elimination purposes," said Stella. "I, um, brushed up against it…" She saw the look on Mac's face and added quickly, "It was before I noticed the body."

"And the footprints?" Mac pulled on one of the gloves. "They'll be yours as well?"

"Some of them anyway…" Stella took a deep breath before continuing, "and some of them will belong to Flack."

Mac paused in the act of pulling on his second glove and frowned, "What were the two of you doing over beside the tree?"

Stella could feel a blush start to rise as she said in a low voice, "Making out…"

There was a loud twang as Mac's glove went flying across the crime scene.

----------------------

"How'd it go?" asked Don as Stella walked back over to him.

"I think it's the first time I've seen him lost for words," said Stella. "He said he'd speak to me back at the lab later on…but I'm glad it's out in the open…"

"Me too," said Don. "It'll be okay, you'll see." He noticed Stella was shivering slightly. "He take your jacket to get reference samples or something?"

"Yes, and he says we're to go to the lab and give imprints of our shoes as well for elimination prints."

Don grimaced, "Man I hate that…takes forever to get the ink off the soles!" Taking off his jacket and draped it around her shoulders. "Come on then, let's go do our duty."

--------------------------

Stella paced nervously around Mac's office. Several hours had passed since she'd left the crime scene with Flack. They'd supplied the required prints of their shoes for analysis, and then it had been back to work for both of them. Don had offered to stay with Stella for her talk with Mac, but she'd turned him down. "It's going to be awkward enough as it is," Stella had told him. "I don't want to complicate matters. Besides, Mac probably won't have any time for me until after he's done his initial workups on the evidence from the scene. You can't be hanging around here all afternoon."

"Wouldn't mind sticking around if it meant being with you."

"I know, I know."

Now as she paced back and forth, Stella was wishing that she hadn't been quite so hasty in dismissing him. It would have been good to have him there for moral support. "No," thought Stella, firmly. "I can deal with this. Don and I have done nothing wrong…I have nothing to be ashamed about." She held her head high and managed to relax herself sufficiently to take a seat beside Mac's desk.

"Stella?"

Mac's voice made Stella jump to her feet.

"Mac! I was just…I need to talk to you…"

Mac looked genuinely puzzled. "Have you got a match on the fibers in the Mazell case already?"

"No," said Stella, "They're still processing." She took a deep breath and continued, "It's about Flack…Don and I…the park…"

Mac held up a hand to stop her, "You know I can't discuss the case with you, Stella. Protocol."

"It's not the case," Stella's voice faltered. "I'm sorry, Mac. I…I should have told you before that Don and I have been seeing each other."

"What you do outside of the lab on your own time is your own business," said Mac. "I know you well enough to know that you wouldn't let it interfere with or influence your work in the lab."

"I haven't," said Stella, firmly. "And neither has Don. When we're on the clock, we're on the job."

"And when you're off the clock, you're making out against a tree in the park?" There was an amused tone to Mac's voice and he smiled at Stella, watching her blush slightly. "It's all right, Stella," he said, his voice reassuring. "You followed procedure when you found the body, you've done nothing wrong."

"Maybe not professionally," said Stella, sighing. "I just…I'm sorry…I didn't…I'm sorry I didn't say anything to you before."

"As I already said, it's not any of my business."

"Maybe not as my supervisor…but as my friend. I should have told you. Don wanted to, he didn't like all this sneaking around. But I…I wouldn't let him and…"

"I'm the last one to be criticizing somebody for wanting to keep their private life private," interrupted Mac. "Stella, I'm happy for you. Don's a good person, and I'm glad he's the one whose been making you happy these last few weeks."

"Months," said Stella, blushing again.

Mac raised an eyebrow. "Remind me not to play poker with either of you anytime soon!" He paused before continuing; "I know that you and Don will have behaved professionally…but a Defense Attorney..."

This time Stella interrupted, "I'm pulling the case files on anything that Don and I have worked together since we got involved. Don's going to do the same at his end…just to be sure there's nothing that could be misconstrued."

"Good," said Mac, nodding approvingly. "Then as far as I'm concerned…as far as the lab is concerned, that's all there is to it."

----------------------------

"So what's there to worry about then?" asked Don.

It was several hours later and he was in bed in his apartment, waiting for Stella to finish up and join him. The results she'd been waiting for had finally come through just as she was finishing her shift, and she'd had to spend several hours collating the data and writing up her reports. Only the fact that she hadn't had a chance to speak to Don in all that time had made her head over to his place instead of to an early night on her own.

Stella appeared in the doorway to his tiny bathroom, toothbrush in her hand. "There's nothing to worry about with Mac. He's fine about it…it's just…"

"Just?" prompted Don.

"Other people…the thought of everybody knowing our business…knowing what we were up to…oh don't get me wrong, I don't regret it…I just wish that nobody else had to know about it."

"It's no biggie," said Don, shrugging slightly. "Sure there'll be a bit a talking about it round the lab. But it'll blow over. Next time Messer gets locked up in a crime scene, we'll be old news."

"And what about when they catch whoever put the John Doe in the tree?" asked Stella. "There'll be a Grand Jury, maybe a trial. I don't know about you, but I'm not exactly looking forward to testifying in a crowded courtroom that I found a body while making out with my toy boy against a tree." She turned, went back into the bathroom, and squeezed a line of toothpaste onto her brush.

As she turned on the cold tap, Stella heard Don calling out to her, "Maybe it'd be easier if you tells them youze were with your fiancé instead."

"Can't lie under oath," Stella called back. "You know that." She leaned over the basin as she brushed her teeth carefully.

"Maybe it don't have to be a lie…"

----------------------------

To be continued

Ceindreadh


End file.
